This is a pretty major update as two significant things have changed relating to SmarterMeter. First Google PowerMeter no longer exists, therefore SmarterMeter now supports Pachube. Second, PG&E changed their web data service to OPower, which is admittely much better but also different which required a rewrite of parts of SmarterMeter.

One thing I am excited about with the change to OPower, is that a universal format (ESPI) for power data is emerging and SmarterMeter supports it. It doesn’t do everything I want yet but it’s an exciting development none the less. Now if only OPower/PG&E provided an OAuth authentication mechanism to access the data, then SmarterMeter would be truly unnecessary.

Unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to update the GUI version of SmarterMeter so this release is only available via the rubygem.

Earlier this year at Google IO, Google announced that Google PowerMeter would be retired but they didn’t give many specifics. They’ve now followed up with details including a clear date when the service will be shutoff, Sept. 16, 2011. You can find the full list of reasons why the project was discontinued on the Google Blog

While this is unfortunate, SmarterMeter is able to migrate to another service as it keeps a copy of all your power data before it was uploaded to Google.

This means in the near future that SmarterMeter will need to switch to a new service for it’s graphing interface. I’ve heard of pachube but I’m wondering if there are other solutions worth looking at. Suggestions and/or volunteers are appreciated.

Today I released SmarterMeter v0.3.2, which contained several small but important bug fixes. So upgrade when you get a chance.

If you’re technically enclined you can also now use SmarterMeter to calculate your carbon footprint resulting from your electricity usage through the Brighter Planet API. See the documentation for a complete example.

Today I’m announcing the release of SmarterMeter v0.3.1. It’s the first release to include support for Windows. This now means that far more PG&E customers can monitor their power usage with Google PowerMeter.

To get started download the Windows installer, install it, run it and follow the configuration wizard.